Asia
Taiwan is presented here as a historical economic dossier rather than a flat stat sheet: long-run macro cycles, public balance-sheet pressure, market depth, external buffers, and the events that likely bent the curve.
A tighter current-state read before dropping into the long historical charts.
The timeline is where macro numbers meet story: crises, wars, policy shifts, trade deals, and other shocks connected to Taiwan.
Following defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki ceding Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan and recognizing Korean independence. The treaty marked Japan's emergence as a major Asian power.
Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen Gate on October 1, 1949, following the Communist victory in the civil war. Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan, and China embarked on radical communist transformation.
The United Nations General Assembly voted to transfer China's permanent Security Council seat from the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the People's Republic of China. This was a major diplomatic victory for Beijing and a setback for Taiwan.
Disintegration in midUnknownflight due to structural failure, killing all 225 aboard.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2-3, 2022, the highest-level US government visit since 1997, triggering China's largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan, simulating a blockade. The visit and exercises heightened cross-strait tensions and underscored the fragility of the Taiwan status quo.